Donny had visited South Dakota's Badlands about 30 years ago, but I had never been there. Once again, I was blown away by the beauty of this place!
Before reaching the Badlands, we passed through part of Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. Tall prairie grasses and wildflowers covered the plains in all directions, billowing in the wind. We saw several small bands of grazing pronghorns.
Suddenly, the terrain changed, with the land dropping off sharply into peaks and valleys of delicate banded colors that seemed to shift in the sunshine. Vistas opened up with buttes, mesas and wide prairies vanishing into the hazy distance. Around every corner of the sharply twisting road jagged sawtoothed mountains soared into the azure sky. It seemed to be part of another world - inhospitable, lonely and austere. It is difficult to imagine that humans have inhabited the Badlands for 11,000 years!
No photos can do it justice, but, of course, I had to try. I took about 350 pictures, kept shooting until my hands were cramping from holding the camera. It was very difficult to choose just a few to post.
As I marveled at the gorgeous scenery, Donny quipped, "This is just a bunch of gullies. If I had enough equipment and fuel, I could level this place out in about a month."
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